When bushfires are threatening to get out of control and are threatening lives and property, every second counts.

It’s crucial to have an overview of the situation to make the right decisions quickly. To be able to do this, command centres face two main challenges:

Firstly, not getting lost in the huge amount of information reaching the center from multiple sources. Secondly, being able to convey decisions in a timely and consistent manner to both local and remote teams. Cruiser Interactive addressed those problems and revolutionised information sharing for QFES.

Cruiser software was installed in the State Disaster Coordination Centre and has provided a large visual workspace on a Touch Table. One where multiple collaborators can work on documents and web sites at the same time. Collaboration is now more effective as it provides an easier and faster means to share information between decision makers in multiple locations. Information captured in the field can now be easily accessed via the Touch Table in the coordination centre.

Similarly, decisions and briefings are remotely conveyed to people by just flicking content to their device for review, allowing multiple users to easily collaborate whether they are in the room or not. Annotating the documents prior to sharing is simply done on the table and is a key part of the sharing process, highlighting what different teams need to look at, or just adding more up to date information.

As a command and control tool, emergency situations and the collected information is now quickly transferred to remote locations for crews to act on, or can be displayed on any screen in the command centre.

Another advantage for QFES is that the software can be customised to suit particular workflows and visual requirements – opening many possibilities further down the track for feeding in data from other sources.

The Cruiser Table is now an integral part of the QFES State Disaster Coordination Centre.